PALM BEACH, Fla. — As they prepared to introduce Tim Tebow at a press conference in New Jersey tomorrow afternoon, the Jets seemingly put Mark Sanchez on notice today.

Speaking at the annual NFL meetings, Rex Ryan stressed that Sanchez remains the team’s starting quarterback in light of last week’s blockbuster acquisition of Tebow, but said he “is going to play the best people” if Sanchez struggles this season.

Ryan also said the Jets have much bigger plans for Tebow than just playing a few snaps a game out of the Wildcat formation, indicating strongly that Tebow will play other positions even though he has voiced his opposition to that since coming to the NFL.

“I don’t see Tim just holding a clipboard,” Ryan said. “He’s going to be playing for us. There’s no doubt. He’ll have a role. There won’t be a better Wildcat quarterback in the game. Is that his only role? We’ll see what happens.”

Ryan spoke shortly after Jets owner Woody Johnson addressed the media, and Johnson couldn’t have made Sanchez feel any better about the situation by fawning over Tebow while knocking Sanchez’s penchant for slow starts last season.

“Mark is very, very good,” Johnson said. “We’ve all seen [him] in the fourth quarter. We wish he’d get better in the first quarter perhaps. He realizes he’s got to make some improvements.”

Johnson also insisted the decision to bring in Tebow — as wildly popular around the country as he is a turnoff to numerous others — was strictly a football move and had nothing to do with marketing or countering the Giants’ recent Super Bowl win.

“Let me be really clear about this: We work for the fans and the fans want us to win games, so all of the decisions we make regarding the team are just for football,” Johnson said. “It’s hard to predict other things. If you get confused as to what your mission is, you’re not going to accomplish your mission. Our mission is to win games, pure and simple. We think Tim Tebow has been a winner all his life.”

Ryan, who said acquiring Tebow originated with GM Mike Tannenbaum but was ultimately a group decision, basically left it to the imagination as to how the Jets will use the 6-foot-3, 245-pound specimen.

According to Ryan, pretty much everything but guard is on the table.

“Tim Tebow is our No. 2 quarterback, but he’s also going to do other things for this football team,” Ryan said. “He is a football player. I don’t just look at him as a quarterback — I look at him as a football player. Let’s not hear what guys can’t do; let’s talk about what they can do. I see a guy with a lot of ability, and we’re going to use that.”

Sanchez has not spoken publicly since the trade was finalized late last week, but Ryan said his conversations with the Jets’ incumbent have been positive, and Ryan is certain Sanchez’s psyche won’t be affected.

“Mark is an extremely confident guy and he understands we’re bringing in a football player and a guy that’s going to help us,” Ryan said. “That’s all we care about. We care about winning, and Mark’s the same way. They’re both extremely competitive guys, but we have a No. 1 quarterback. Mark Sanchez is our No. 1 quarterback.”

Nor does Ryan feel the addition of the polarizing Tebow will cause further divisiveness in an already fractured Jets locker room.

“We’re going to come out with 53 guys, and we’re all [going to be] swinging,” Ryan said. “Our biggest thing is, swing in the same direction. We might have swung last year, but it might not have been in the same direction. We will swing in the same direction this year, and I’m confident in that.”